OS X... insanely gross.

[Chaszmyr]

Raskin is a bit of a kook in my opinion -- a holdover from computing past that doen't hold his tongue well. He's very opinionated. He values keyboard over mouse (in fact, he was COMPLETELY against using a mouse on the Mac.).

And he's bitter as hell.

That being said, he's brilliant, and if you filter out the superiority complex and ground axes, there's a moniker of truth. But notice that the only thing he ever offers as an alternative is THE (see above post or Google). And THE is at its best nothing more than a plug-in for Word or Appleworks.

GUIs are what they are. And they have faults. Until he puts something out there better, he's just a bitter old man.

But I sound bitter, too, don't I?

You don't sound bitter, you sound right.

 

[Counterfit]

You don't sound bitter, you sound right.

Who says he can't be both

 

[superfunkomatic]

It was an exaggeration. Jokily and well meant, though.
But to reply to your point about looking at dates...
I don't look at an OS. I use it. It's a means to an end and would prefer it not to get in the way of what I want to do. At work, I have to use OS9.2, OS 10.3 and Win 2000 and I know which I prefer...
Also, most of the (print) designers I know over here are still wedded to OS9 with their tuned workflows. I saw a colleague rebuilding his desktop the other day and he was so comfortable and right in his element... it's human nature.
Although in Sept. we're phasing out OS9 completely (it's a headache to implement this and keep our publishing schedule on track). Then, I'll prob. have more to say on the matter -- personally, I can't wait.
I guess I'm a bit austere -- I have a flat mid-grey desktop to keep things clear (helps with Pshop too)...

yeah i figure it was in jest. we have a bunch of OS 9 users too, they are "too busy" to switch - read - afraid of change. but you're right it's human nature. the grey background will look just as good with your new candy desktop. haha. have a good one.

 

[superninjagoat]

For some perspective, the Macintosh originally envisioned by Raskin was a text-based glorified word processor (the old-style all-in-one computer, not the software).

You would had to type commands for everything, there would have been no mouse or drop-down menus or the like. All the software would be built in and absolutely bare-bones.

Virtually every modern computing/device interface today harkens back to the Macintosh and the research work done by XEROX PARC (where a lot of people came from to work at Apple to make real products and not just do research).

This is 95% sour grapes on Raskin's part, he is a forgotten nobody and very much not a "mogul" of anything. Steve Jobs is the King of the industry, even if no one realizes how much credit he is due for being the genesis of all *all* modern GUI-based computer systems.

You're very right here. It's strange that many consider him the "Father of the Macintosh." The most important thing he contributed to the Mac was the name. Now, as far as object-oriented programming goes, he added a lot to the programming community. But father of the Macintosh is stretching it a bit. Perhaps estranged uncle is more suiting.